This Is An Interesting Little Graphic, Wouldn't You Say: A Farewell Blog To Derek Jeter
Tonight’s awesome. I love tonight. It’s poetic justice. This farewell tour has been a relative disaster for Yankees fans, and it could not end any better than this. Girardi sat there in April and soapboxed about how he wasn’t hired to run a farewell tour and how his job is to win ballgames. If that was the truth, they’d still be in the thick of the wild card race.
Derek Jeter has been a symbol of selflessness and class and “team-first” when he’s done everything but those things for the 2nd half of his career. Refusing to yield SS to a superior defender, his lack of class in light of the Ken Huckaby incident in ’03, and not asking to take a seat for the betterment of the team this season all fly directly in the face of that narrative. And clutch? Chill the fuck out with that one. Take a look at every “clutch” moment he’s had in his career. Jeffrey Maier and 2001 GM4 aren’t even close to homers in any park but the playground that is Yankee Stadium. The flip play is a product of terrible baserunning. And those were all over a decade ago. The fact that the teams he captained over the past 13 years only won one title is a goddamn joke. And they don’t even win that one if A-Rod doesn’t play out of his mind/have a needle sticking out of his ass in 09.
The narrative that disgusts me the most is the “oh, but he did so much for the game of baseball!”. That phrase is used all the time about Cal and even I don’t subscribe to it. He did so much for the New York Yankees and that’s it. You’re going to sit here and tell me baseball would be a lesser game if we didn’t have a single player? Baseball is so much bigger than one person. This farewell recognition is deserved, but the fact that it’s been force fed down the throats of non-Yankee fans everywhere is beyond irritating. It’s further irritating that Yankees fans demand that we all bow down to him. He’s your god, not mine. I don’t mind you celebrating him at all, I would do the same. I would gargle the guys’ balls too if he was on my team. But he’s not, so don’t expect me to join you.
That’s why tonight is so great. I’m aware that I’m just bitter. Yankees fans can chide me all they want about the Orioles being a punching bag the past 15 years. That’s fine, we earned that. But just know that the biggest reason the farewell tour ends this weekend and not in October is because Derek and the Yankees felt the need for him to play 146 games this season in order to serve his ego and fill their bank account. And I’m going to love watching tonight’s game knowing that fact.